It didn't take newly-minted Indianapolis Colt and former Ball State Cardinal Jonathan Newsome long to make things fully official with his first professional team.

The outside linebacker who transferred from Ohio State tweeted he'd officially signed Wednesday afternoon, just four days after he was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft. At 6-foot-3, 347 pounds, Newsome is expected to fit as an outside rusher in Indianapolis' 3-4 defense.

"Officially Signed and Ready to Make Plays," Newsome tweeted. "God is good....All the time."

Officially Signed and Ready to Make Plays. God is good....All the time

He was asked to do a lot in Ball State's versatile rush end spot, but in two seasons, he was mostly a pass rush terror off the edge. He racked up 16 ½ sacks and 24 tackles for loss in 23 career games, and even added an interception and three pass breakups on occasional drops into coverage.

"It's awfully special when you consider how far Jon has come and how passionate about the game he is and the fact that a local team that certainly could have selected any number of different players from any program across the country chose to take one of our guys," Ball State coach Pete Lembo said. "I know he's got a lot of hard work ahead of him, but the fact that he's got this opportunity and it's right here in our backyard on a team that means so much to so many people in the state of Indiana, it's a pretty neat deal."

The NFL's rookie wage scale makes these draft contract negotiations much faster as players are slotted into contracts based on where they're picked. The Star's Mike Chappell reported Newsome should receive a $144,560 signing bonus on a $2.3 million, four-year deal.